Bruins’ best receive message, deliver in series-tying Game 2 victory

Author Ty Anderson

May 18th, 2021 6:59 AM

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t hold back when it came to the performance of his top six in Saturday’s Game 1.

It wasn’t an outright hammering from Cassidy, but it was a pointed message all the same: They didn’t find their gear. They didn’t do enough. Especially against a third-string goaltender who came into Game 1 cold, and in what was just his fifth appearance of the 2021 season, and with the Bruins in a favorable spot when it came to seizing home-ice advantage from the Capitals. It was, by The Cassidy Scale, a gentle-but-firm way of letting ’em know that he expected more.

And based on a thrilling Game 2, extended into an extra frame by a late-game Taylor Hall equalizer and ended by the quickest playoff overtime goal in franchise history (off Brad Marchand’s stick), it was message received.

“The guys that have been here understood the urgency of this game,” Cassidy said after Game 2. “Listen, we had to play better. We had to play better. We did. Obviously, getting the win is very important. But for ourselves, we needed to play a better hockey game [and] I thought we were the better team tonight. We’re full value for the win. And those guys led; Bergeron, Marchand, and Charlie [McAvoy] really got going too.”

This was about as complete an effort from those guys as you could’ve asked for, too.

• Patrice Bergeron

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  Game 1 was not Bergeron's best. It wasn't his worst, but it was far from his best, as confirmed by a staggering five missed shots and zero shots on goal. It was actually Bergeron's first playoff game without a shot on goal since Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. That's when he played with a punctured lung, separated shoulder, and broken ribs. (It's amazing he even put on his uniform that night, so I think you can let him slide for not having a shot on goal that night.) But still, that's a 67-game between zero-shot playoff efforts from the B's captain, so you just knew that you'd see something from Bergeron. 
  
  On Monday, he made sure that his first shot of the night found the back of the net. Find a more Bergeron response. I dare you.
  
  Bergeron also won nine of his 12 battles at the dot in the offensive zone, and won 16 of his final 23 faceoffs (a 69.6 percent success rate) after a lost faceoff led to the Garnet Hathaway deflection goal that made this a 2-2 game after the first period. 

• Brad Marchand

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  The 5-foot-9 Hart Trophy contender is the straw that stirs the Boston drink. That's always been the case, to be honest. But it's been especially true in 2021, as Marchand has constantly played the role of this team's on-ice shot of adrenaline. And this may have been his most spirited effort yet. Long before the overtime goal, too. 
  
  In the middle of every battle, every scrum, and every post-whistle meeting of the minds, Marchand's fight prematurely ended a Boston power play in the first, but it showed that Washington's grind guys were not going to get the better of the Bruins from a physicality standpoint. He continued that aggressiveness with a matching minor with Anthony Mantha in the second period, and as crazy as this sounds, the Bruins actually appeared to get some much-needed breathers at four-on-four. There wasn't any momentum lost when it came to Marchand's penalties. It was as if he was finding the right potion to even the ice.
  
  "I don't worry about Marsh," Cassidy said. "I think I've told you that he's going to periodically push back, he's in the middle of everything, so he's got to defend himself as long as he's doing it. He's doing it a lot better now in how he's taking penalties. I've got a lot of faith and trust and loyalty to Brad. There's way, way more good than bad, and I think he wanted to drag us into the fight and we needed it because we didn't start on time. That's Brad. I think he's matured enough now to not take himself out of the game. Maybe that would have been a game in the past [where] he would have let it get to him and he wouldn't have been an effective player. But he found his game and certainly was a big part of the win, obviously, with the overtime winner."
  
  Marchand also emptied his own bucket, but made the Capital defense empty theirs, on every single offensive-zone shift. He was in the middle of grinding battles along the boards, he was driving to the net, and he was willing to be on the bottom of pile-ups if it meant extending the offensive-zone staying power for his linemates. It was the right kind of dirt. 
  
  "That's who he is," Bergeron said of Marchand's Game 2 fire. "He competes at all times. And his will and his want to be the difference is there every time. It's no surprise, to be honest with you. I think you've been around enough [and] I've been around enough to know that that's just who he is."

• Taylor Hall

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  It was entirely too early to worry, but I was beginning to wonder if and when we'd see our Taylor Hall Playoff Moment.
  
  Hall's simply too talented and too important to stay as quiet — penalties drawn notwithstanding — for this long. And did the 29-year-old pick the perfect time to make it happen, as it was Hall who pounded the game-tying tally through Craig Anderson with 2:49 remaining in the third period and with the Bruins staring down the barrel of their first 0-2 series hole since 2011. 
  
  "[Hall] stuck with it, made a huge play on the third goal [to] beat [John] Carlson one-on-one, great poise," said Cassidy. "They slide a lot, their defense, on some of those chances, so he waited them out and got it to the front of the net and then hung around there, right? He didn't go for a flyby, so credit to Taylor.
  
  "Listen, he's been really invested since he's been here. I think he just wanted to do really well right away. And obviously that's a good mindset to have. But there's a lot of hockey. I think a lot of his teammates are reminding him that let's just keep playing and keep playing. When it's your turn, you'll make the right play. And sure enough, you do."
  
  "I still think I have another level to get to, personally," Hall said. 
• David Krejci

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  In addition to finishing the night as Boston's leading minute-eater up front (19:50) and top faceoff threat (71 percent), Krejci came through with what might just be the best secondary assist of the Bruins' 2021 season.
  
  Over the boards and on the ice with Washington possessing the puck, Krejci swiped a would-be zone clear by Brenden Dillon out of the air, settled the puck, and hit Matt Grzelcyk with a perfect pass that set the stage for Marchand's game-winning strike. It was perfectly Krejci in terms of him just being the silent assassin. In the clear until he comes in. Out of nowhere. 
  
  "I don't know how it got up to Krej," Marchand, the ultimate beneficiary of Krejci's interception, admitted. "but he did a great job kind of settling and everything down the way he does and got it over to Grizzy."
  
  "You just keep playing, keep rolling them over shift after shift and hope that something kind of comes your way when when you play the right way," Hall said. "You see that last goal; Proper O-zone spacing, Krej makes a play at the line [and] he knows he has time, he makes a play over to [Grzelcyk]."
  
  The Krejci Factor.  

• Charlie McAvoy

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  This was a straight-up clinic from Charlie McAvoy. My goodness. 
  
  On the ice for 20:07 of even-strength action, McAvoy finished the night with a 67.69 corsi-for percentage (tops among defenseman, fourth-best among all Bruins), while the Bruins outshot the Capitals 28-11, and outscored them 4-0 with No. 73 on the ice. That, of course, gave McAvoy a plus-4 night, to go with five shots, five hits, and a blocked shot. 
  
  "They just create so much," Bergeron said of the McAvoy-Grzelcyk pairing. "The way they play together, they're used to each other, but also having their heads up and finding the open guy in the open lane and getting the puck on net and whatnot. So [we're] creating a lot out of that. I thought it was it was a great game by both of them."

• Tuukka Rask

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  The Bruins were drowning through the first half of this opening frame. And it had the potential to get real ugly real fast. But from Nic Dowd's breakaway to countless second-chance whacks from the high-danger areas, Rask had them covered. 
  
  "Early on, he was under siege and made a number of great saves," said Cassidy. "A couple of goals were... I mean, the high tip, [he had] no chance at all. The two-on-one, we didn't defend it well enough. But at the end of the day, [Rask] certainly played well, gave us a chance to win. The game was always close. You don't want it to get away from you."
  
  "We don't panic. We have so much character in a room and you can sense it all the way through the bench and during the timeouts and in the room," said Marchand. "There's a sense of calm when things aren't going our way. And, you know, that's why we have Tuuks back there to kind of bail us out in situations like that and give us a minute to find our game. That's what happened."
  
  Deadlocked at 2-2 in the third period, Rask made five saves on the same penalty kill, and it took a brutal Kevan Miller pinch for the Capitals to find the opening they needed to take their only advantage of the night. But Rask never allowed it to double, which paved the way for that Hall game-tying tally and Marchand's winner. That's all you wanted: a chance to even it up. 
  
  Rask also denied 12 of Washington's 13 high-danger scoring shots by the night's end, and finished with stops on 36-of-39. 
  
  "I thought both goalies were good," said Cassidy. "I thought their guy was excellent too. But we were one better."

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

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Boston Bruins,brad marchand,patrice bergeron,Taylor Hall